And Then There's This

The Alexander chronicles just keep coming.

My kids love, love, love to swish around a little ACT Bubble Gum Blowout-flavored fluoride rinse after brushing their teeth. They've been doing this for some time now. Long enough to know the drill. Swish. Spit. Then they're allowed to fill the lid with tap water and have a little drink of that. Never once have they even tried to swallow the pink stuff, no matter how yummy tasting.

That is, never once until last week when I felt comfortable enough to walk down the stairs to set who knows what on the kitchen counter. When I returned I straight away noticed a considerable amount of the pink stuff was gone. I kind of freaked out and asked Alexander if he swallowed it — because, you know, his sister, after all, has been known to spill a good bit of it onto the counter top when trying to pour it into the tiny little measuring cap. He fessed up like it was no big deal. Why, yes, he did swallow it.

He seemed well enough to take a good scolding and timeout, then off to the telephone I went. I first called his pediatrician's office since they keep late hours. The nurse told me to call the Poison Control Center. I did. They asked about his size and age and wanted to know about how much I thought he may have ingested. I think I was low-balling it when I said maybe a fourth or a third of a cup (I was optimistic that some may have, indeed, spilled). But not to worry, they said. Give him one Tums to chew and some milk to drink (all to absorb the excess fluoride) and he'd be fine.

And he was! Whew.